Windows 8 mouse pointer disappeared

Anonymous
2012-12-13T21:57:37+00:00

Hello...

I am using a 1 month old Toshiba laptop, running Windows 8 (upgraded from Windows 7, which was installed when purchased)

Until now, everything was working fine, but today, the mouse pointer just froze while browsing the internet.

I restarted the laptop(eventually after working out the keyboard shortcuts), and now the mouse pointer does not appear at all - I can only control things from the keyboard - which is very difficult.

When I shut down the laptop(the first time, with the frozen pointer), it installed updates, and when it came back on it configured those updates - so maybe this is something to do with it?

Please help - thank you!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2014-09-03T22:40:14+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience. It worked for me. FN + F9 for Asus.

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Anonymous
2014-11-24T19:44:11+00:00

Thank you for the very simple answer!! I have searched everywhere.

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Anonymous
2014-10-30T09:38:12+00:00

Thank you so much. Mine disappeared and I pressed FN F9 and voila it's back! Windows 8.1 it is right next to F10 which is sound mute, which I meant to hit. Microsoft community is great.

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Anonymous
2014-10-05T18:10:30+00:00

Thanks for this- just helped solve a problem I've been grappling all afternoon.

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Anonymous
2014-09-22T19:03:24+00:00

You saved me from more hours of searching for this solution.  I use the F5 button to refresh a program and would have never put the two issues together.  Thanks for sharing your "embarrassing" find.

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Anonymous
2012-12-16T17:33:42+00:00

Hello...

Thanks for your reply - it is much appreciated.

I have, however, recently resolved the problem - and the solution is a little embarrassing - but I'll share it here for the benefit of anyone else with the same issue.

Quite simply, one of the function keys on the laptop has a 'switch the mouse pointer on or off' feature.  This is something I have never seen before, despite having used laptops since they were practically first available.

On my particular laptop (Toshiba Satellite L855) the F5 key does this.  It has a picture which is hardly identifiable as a mouse with a line through it.

Press this (or press FN+F5 depending on you configuration), and hey presto... the cursor returns.

Thanks again - and hope this helps someone else.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-08-13T16:10:25+00:00

    Thanks I will try next time it happens , I have a customer power plan.

    Not surprising what you say about a video driver as it seems to happen on dual monitor

    My fix is to open up the dock and goes to single monitor

    Logging off is a pain as I have about 3 logins for work I have to perform

    Hopefully MS comes up with a fix

    This is probably related to the way one of the installed drivers deal with processor power states. My best guess is actually your video driver. Believe it or not, changing your power plan should solve the issue. I was facing the exact same one and it did solve. I can even reproduce it. I will go back to the Power saver plan, eventually I will face the issue again. Then I will go back to High Performance or Balanced, logoff/logon and there you have it. Mouse pointer is back. It does not work if I just logoff/logon. It is the power plan for sure.

    Enough said, your power plan configuration probably looks like this:

    In order to change it, all your have to do is:

    1. Go to the Start menu (bummer, you don’t have your mouse pointer, just hit Windows button on your keyboard), type power options
    2. Select Power Options
    3. You will see your power plans, just like the screenshot above
    4. Changed it from Power saver to something else. In order to so, without the mouse pointer we all love and missed, you will have to be patient and hit TAB until you get where you want. Then select the power plan using your arrow buttons.

    This is it. Let me know how it goes. Thanks.

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